A US based Intelligence Group SITE has published photos of 5 persons reported to be attackers who killed 20 hostages in Dhaka. Their identities were however not provided.
Search for International Terrorist Entities, SITE group tracks online activity of terrorist organizations. Meanwhile, Bangladesh police also released photos of 5 terrorists following the military operation which rescued 13 hostages.
However Bangladesh Home Minister today said that the attackers who killed 20 hostages at the Dhaka restaurant were members of a homegrown Bangladeshi militant outfit and not IS group.
Bangladesh Police Chief AKM Shahidul Hoque said, five of the dead gunmen were listed as militants and police had been looking for them. Their identities have also been given by the police.
If the resemblance gets proved, it could be a clear indication of IS terrorist group’s involvement in the attack. Both IS and Al-Qaeda affiliate have claimed responsibility for the attack.
Police said, they are interrogating the lone terrorist captured alive after the cammando rescue operation. Police are also interrogating some of the staff of the Dhaka cafe who were held hostages to get more information about the assaulters.
The Bangladesh government has maintained, there is no IS presence in the country. The targetted killings were linked to home-grown terror outfits like Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh, JMB as well as the opposition Jamaat-e-Islami.
The Bangladesh hostage crisis ended on Saturday following an army led commando operation.
One Indian girl named Tarishi Jain is among the 20 civilians killed. Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj in a tweet informed that the family will take the mortal remains of Tarishi to Ferozabad on Monday.
The body of slain Indian girl Tarishi Jain will be flown to New Delhi on Monday from where her family will take her to Firozabad in Uttar Pradesh for the last rites.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in a tweet informed it. 19-year-old Tarishi, a student at UC Berkeley, was among the 20 hostages killed in a gruesome attack at Holey Artisan Bakery cafe in Dhaka’s Gulshan area on Saturday.